Nearly 15,000 nurses walked off the job on Monday at some of New York City’s largest private hospitals, marking one of the most significant labour confrontations in the city’s healthcare sector in decades. The strike raised concerns about severe staffing shortages at major medical centres.The walkout affected 10 major hospitals, including NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, and Mount Sinai Hospital’s main campus in Manhattan, as well as two other Mount Sinai facilities. The strike follows stalled contract negotiations over staffing levels, wages, healthcare benefits, and workplace safety.According to news agency Reuters, Mount Sinai has warned that the union’s proposals would cost the hospital system USD 1.6 billion over three years, including a USD 638 million increase in nursing costs by the third year, a figure it said represents a 74 per cent rise over current expenses.
Nurses cite understaffing, safety concerns
Nurses said chronic understaffing has left them caring for too many patients at a time, putting both staff and patients at risk. They are also demanding better protection from workplace violence, which they say increasingly comes from patients and visitors.“The strike is necessary to force hospitals to ensure minimum staffing ratios so that nurses aren’t overwhelmed,” the New York State Nurses Association said.On Monday morning, dozens of nurses rallied outside NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in uptown Manhattan, speaking of the inability to take breaks and a lack of adequate healthcare benefits.“In the operating room, I work as a night nurse, and we’re always short on staffing, and this is unsafe for the patient,” Michael Lazar, a 53-year-old NewYork-Presbyterian nurse, told Reuters.The strike follows a similar walkout three years ago involving approximately 7,000 nurses at Mount Sinai and Montefiore, which ended after hospitals agreed to hire more nurses and implement enforceable staffing ratios. While the union has since secured penalties when units were understaffed, nurses say hospitals are now seeking to weaken those safeguards.State health officials have advised hospitals unaffected by the strike to prepare to accept transferred patients. The Department of Health stated that facilities where nurses are on strike may transfer patients, even against their will, if necessary.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani joins protest
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, just two weeks into his term, joined nurses on the picket lines on Monday, voicing support for the striking workers and urging both sides to return to negotiations.“The nurses are not asking for a multi-million dollar salary,” Mamdani told reporters. “What they are asking for is for their pensions to be safeguarded, to be protected in their own workplace, and to receive the pay and health benefits that they deserve.”The mayor urged hospital management and the union to bargain in good faith, warning that prolonged disruptions could strain an already pressured healthcare system.
New York governor declares emergency
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a disaster emergency last week, allowing hospitals to bring in out-of-state and foreign medical personnel to cover for striking nurses. The emergency order will remain in effect until February 8.In an executive order signed on Friday, Hochul said “a disaster is imminent” and warned that the strike could “impact the availability and delivery of care, threatening public health.”
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